Located at the Cathedral of Saint Michael the Archangel in Sitka, Alaska is one of the most revered Icons in North America: the Sitka Mother of God. This Icon has been attributed to a famous Iconographer, Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky (1758-1826), a protégé of the Empress Catherine II…
The only thing we known about this Icon is that it was located in the city of Yelts, Orlov Gubernia. In addition, the annals record the year of its appearance - 1060, which is the same as that of the Yelets-Chernigov Icon (February 5). Researchers believe that the Yelets Icon is a late copy of the…
The “Akathist” Icon of the Mother of God is on the iconostasis of the Hilandar monastery’s katholikon. It is known as the “Akathist” Icon because, during a fire at the katholikon in 1837 an Akathist was being read before the icon, and it remained unharmed, to the joy…
The “Milk-Giver” Icon of the Mother of God was originally located at the Lavra of Saint Savva the Sanctified near Jerusalem. Before his death, the holy founder of the Lavra foretold that a royal pilgrim having the same name as himself would visit the Lavra. Saint Savva told the brethren…
The “Priestly” Icon of the Mother of God stands in the katholikon of Hilandar Monastery by a column of the left kliros. A certain heretical priest, having declared himself Orthodox, acted at the Hilandar monastery with evil purpose, but he was punished. During the procession for the…
The Vatopedi “Comfort” or “Consolation” Icon of the Mother of God is in the old Vatopedi monastery on Athos, in the church of the Annunciation. It was called “Vatopedi” because near this monastery Arcadius, the son of Empreor Theodosius the Great, fell off a ship…
The “Stabbed” Icon of the Mother of God, (Greek: “Esphagmeni.” Slavonic: “Zaklannaya”) dates from the fourteenth century, and is in the Vatopedi monastery on Mt. Athos, in a chapel dedicated to Saint Demetrius of Thessalonica. The icon was painted on canvas, and…
According to tradition, this wonderworking icon was for many years at the Vatopedi monastery on Mount Athos, in the katholikon in front of a column on the left cliros. In 1730, it mysteriously disappeared not only from the church, but also from the monastery. Since the doors were locked, the monks…
The “Assuage my Sorrows” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos was glorified at Moscow by many miracles in the second half of the eighteenth century, particularly during a plague in 1771. The icon had been brought to Moscow by Cossacks in 1640 in the reign of Tsar Michael (1613-1645), and…
The “Unexpected Joy” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, is painted in this way: in a room is an icon of the Mother of God, and beneath it a youth is kneeling at prayer. The tradition about the healing of some youth from a bodily affliction through this holy icon is recorded in the book of…
The city of Tot'ma is located in the Vologda gubernia. Saint Theodosios contested nearby during the XVI century, and the spot was named Totemsk, after the place of his ascetical exploits. The residents of Tot'ma treated the aged Elder with reverence and helped him from their own means. When…
On the Feast of Saint Basil the Great, we commemorate an Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos known as "You are a Vineyard," because on this day, through her Icon, the Most Holy Theotokos healed an unbelieving man of an incurable disease. After he was healed, he began to believe. Later, the Icon flowed…
This highly-venerated icon of the Annunciation was discovered in the ruins of the ancient church of Saint John the Baptist on January 30, 1823. An elderly man, Michael Polyzoes, had a dream shortly before the Feast of the Annunciation in 1821, in which the Mother of God appeared to him in shining…
The Socola Icon of the Mother of God was in the church of the Transfiguration in the Orthodox Theological Seminary at the Socola Monastery in Romania. In February 1854, it became famous for the remarkable miracle of shedding tears. After the Divine Liturgy on February 1, 1854, a frightened member…
From time immemorial the Russian people, with faith in the all-powerful help of the Most Holy Theotokos, considered the title “Seeker of the Perishing” to refer not only to those who are dying, but to those whose souls are in danger of spiritual death. There are no reliable accounts of the…
The Elets-Chernigov (Chernigov Spruce Tree) Icon of the Mother of God appeared on a spruce or fir tree near Chernigov in the year 1060, in the time of Prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, as was recorded in the Synodikon of Bishop Zosimus Prokopovich of Chernigov (1655-1657). The icon was placed in a…
The Divnogorsk-Sicilian Icon of the Mother of God received the first part of its title from where it was enshrined when it was glorified: the Dormition monastery of Divnogorsk, in the former Ostrogozhsk district in Voronezh governance. Its title of “Sicilian” comes from its place of…
There is little information about the history of this Icon, and the story of its appearance is shrouded in mystery. We only know that the now lost original was painted around 845. However, there is reason to believe its iconographic type was the same as the Hagiosoritissa Icon.1 Copies of the…
Holy Empress Theodora was the wife of the Byzantine emperor Theophilus the Iconoclast (829-842), but she did not share in the heresy of her husband and secretly venerated the holy icons. After the death of her husband, Saint Theodora governed the realm because her son Michael was a minor. She…
During the reign of Emperor Theophilos (829-842) the Byzantine Empire was in turmoil because of the heresy of iconoclasm. In accordance with the Emperor’s orders, thousands of soldiers scoured the Empire, searching in every corner, city, and village for any hidden icons. A pious widow living…
Today's celebration commemorates the transfer of the Icon from Moscow to Vil'na (Vilnius), Lithuania. According to local tradition, this Icon (of the Hodēgḗtria type) was painted by the Holy Evangelist Luke, and was brought from Palestine to Constantinople. For many years it belonged to the…
In Perm Gubernia, Shadrinsk county, on the banks of the Iseti River, is the Dalmatian Monastery of the Dormition. In the cathedral church of this monastery is a wonderworking Icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God, which belonged to Father Dalmatios (Δαλμάτιος), the founder of this…
The Weeping Tikhvin Icon of Mt. Athos is to be found behind the altar in the Prophet Elias Skete. On February 17, 1877 (Thursday of the Second Week of Lent) seven monks remained in the church after the Hours had been read. They were astonished to see tears flowing from the right eye of the icon,…
The Cyprus Icon of the Mother of God. In this icon the Mother of God is depicted sitting on a throne with the Divine Infant in Her arms. There is an angel on either side of Her. The prototype of this holy icon manifested itself in the year 392 on the island of Cyprus at the tomb of Righteous…
This Icon is one of the latest of the wonderworking icons of the Mother of God to be glorified, and one of the most revered. The event which glorified this Icon received the widest publicity, and produced the deepest impression. This was not some ancient tradition which might be denied, but it…
The wonderworking Mezhetsk (Межецкая) or Mezhitsk (Межетская) Icon of the Mother of God appeared near Kiev in 1492 and became renowned because of the numerous miracles which took place when people…
This Icon appeared on February 29, 1392. One of the oldest shrines of the Devpeteruv (Девпетерувская) Icon of the Mother of God is now located in the Nikolaev church of the village of Batyushkova, or Batatkova, Dmitrovsky district of Moscow Province. In this image, the child Jesus is…
The “Reigning” Icon of the Mother of God appeared on March 2, 1917, the day of Tsar Nicholas’s abdication, in the village of Kolomskoye near Moscow. In February 1917, an elderly woman named Eudokia saw the Mother of God in a dream telling her to go to Kolomskoye to find a large…
The Volokolamsk Icon of the Mother of God is a copy of the Vladimir Icon of the Moscow Dormition cathedral. The icon was brought from Zvenigorod to the Dormition monastery of Saint Joseph of Volokolamsk on March 2, 1572, during the second week of Great Lent and was solemnly met by Igumen Leonid…
In the Icon called “Nurturing,” the Mother of God is depicted with her eternal Child sitting on her left arm. Christ’s right hand is extended upward to the face of the All-Pure Virgin. Before 1917, the holy image was located in the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square, but it was lost…
The Holy Hieromartyr Conon lived in Iconium (Asia Minor). After he became a widower, he went to a monastery with his son. Because of his devout life the saint was granted help from above. He cast out devils, he healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, and preached Christ among the pagans,…
The wonderworking "Blessed Heaven" Icon of the Mother of God, is on the iconostasis of Moscow's Archangel Cathedral in the Kremlin, on the left side of the royal gates. The Most Holy Theotokos, holding the Pre-Eternal Child in her arms, is depicted in full stature and is surrounded by a bright red…
The wonderworking Czestochowa Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos is to be found in a Roman Catholic monastery at Yasna Gora near the city of Czestochowa, Petrov Province. It is believed to be one of the seventy icons painted by the holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke (October 18). Tradition says that the…
The Icon of the Mother of God “Surety of Sinners” is known by this name because of the inscription on the icon: “I am the Surety of sinners for My Son Who has entrusted Me to hear them, and those who bring Me the joy of hearing them will receive eternal joy through Me.” The…
In March of 1898, several intruders, hoping to undermine popular belief in the miraculous power of the Kursk Icon, decided to destroy it. During the All-night Vigil in the Cathedral of the Sign, they secretly placed a powerful bomb with a timer at the foot of the Icon of the Mother of God. At two…
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The Albazin Icon of the Mother of God “the Word made Flesh” is of great religious significance in the Amur River region. It received its name from the Russian fortress of Albazin (now the village of Albazino) along the Amur river, founded in the year 1650 by the famous Russian frontier…
The wonderworking Lydda Icon is mentioned in the service for the Kazan Icon (July 8 & October 22) in the third Ode of the Canon. According to Tradition, the Apostles Peter and John were preaching in Lydda (later called Diospolis) near Jerusalem. There they built a church dedicated to the Most Holy…
The Saint Theodore—Kostroma Icon of the Mother of God was painted by the Evangelist Luke, and it closely resembles the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. The Icon received its name from the Great Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (+ 1246), the father of Saint Alexander Nevsky, and in Holy Baptism…
The Smolensk “Tenderness” Icon of the Mother of God manifested itself in the year 1103 at Smolensk. There is another Smolensk “Tenderness” Icon from the vicinity of Okopa (down from Smolensk). This icon was in the encampment of the Russian armies of the military commander…
This holy icon, which dates from the fifteenth century, was in the Saint Nicholas monastery church in the Pskov region. There was once a silver plaque with an inscription from 1890 on the reverse of the icon. It told of how Tsar Ivan the Terrible came to the monastery of Saint Nicholas at Lubyatov…
About 250-300 years ago1 this icon was in one of the men’s monasteries of Tver and the Superior gave it to Cosmas Volchaninov in gratitude for his fine work in the Monastery church. The Icon was passed down from generation to generation, but an irreverent grandson of Cosmas took the darkened Icon…
Like the Panagia Portaitissa, the Glykophilousa Icon is one of those which were saved during the iconoclastic period and brought miraculously to Mount Athos. It originally belonged to Victoria, the devout wife of the senator Symeon. Victoria was one who venerated the holy icons, especially that of…
There are other icons of this name which are commemorated on January 12 (Hilandar Icon “Of the Akathist”), and October 10 (Zographou Icon “Of the Akathist”).
The Ivḗron Icon of the Mother of God (which is preserved on Mt. Athos) was kept in the home of a certain pious widow, who lived near Nicea. During the time of the emperor Theophilus, the Iconoclasts came to the house of this Christian, and one of the soldiers struck the image of the Mother of God…
The "Unfading Flower" Icon depicts the Theotokos holding her Divine Son on her right arm, and in her left hand is a bouquet of white lilies. The lilies symbolize the unfading flower of virginity and purity of the Mother of God, to whom the Church sings: “You are the root of virginity and the…
The Kasperov Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. Tradition says that this holy icon had been brought to Cherson from Transylvania by a Serb at the end of the sixteenth century. Passing down from parent and child, the icon had come to a certain Mrs. Kasperova of Cherson in 1809. One night in February…
The appearance of this Icon dates back to the VIII century. With the help of the Mother of God, King Pelagius of Spain, won a brilliant victory over the Saracens in 718. In the same year, in the east, the Saracens were defeated by Emperor Leo the Isaurian. In remembrance of these events, a Feast…
This icon was brought from Kiev to Murom by the Holy Prince Constantine of Murom (May 21) early in the XII century. For a long time, but quite unsuccessfully, Saint Constantine tried to attract the pagan inhabitants of the Murom principality to Christianity. His counsels met with no sympathy;…
The Belynich Icon of the Mother of God initially was in one of the Orthodox churches of the Mogilev district. After the emergence of the Unia (1596) the icon passed into the hands of the Catholics and was placed in a church of the Belynich Catholic monastery, founded in 1622-1624 by the hetman of…
The Vil'na Icon of the Mother of God is one of those attributed to the Holy Evangelist Luke. For a long time it was a sacred heirloom of the Byzantine Emperors in Constantinople. In 1472, this Holy Icon was taken to Moscow by Sophia Palaiologos, the wife of Great Prince John III of Moscow…
The Il'insk (Prophet Elias)-Chernigov Icon of the Mother of God was painted in 1658 by the iconographer Gregory Dubensky (Gennadios in monasticism). The history of the Icon's creation and its miracles are described by a witness of these events, Saint Demetrios, Metropolitan of Rostov, in the works…
In 1686, Saint Pitirim (July 28) came to Tambov and, along with other relics, he brought with him a copy of the Il'insk-Chernigov Icon of the Mother of God, considered to be the patroness of the southwestern region. For this reason, the Icon was placed at the southwestern gate of the city. Over…
The Saint Maximus Icon is in the cathedral church of the city of Vladimir. Metropolitan Maximus (December 6), a Greek by birth, painted the Icon in 1299, as he was told to do in a vision while he slept in his cell. When St. Maximus arrived in Vladimir from Kiev, the Mother of God appeared to him in…
There are, in fact, two wonderworking Icons called Molcha. One of them is located in the Molcha Sophroniev Nativity of the Theotokos men's Monastery. The other is in the women's Monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos at Molcha. Both monasteries are located in the Putivl Konotop Diocese, in…
The Constantinople Icon of the Theotokos is locally venerated at Moscow’s Dormition church on Malaya Dimitrovka. This image is different from the Constantinople Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos celebrated on September 17, although it appears to be a copy of it. The wonderworking…
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The “Unexpected Joy” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, is painted in this way: in a room is an icon of the Mother of God, and beneath it a youth is kneeling at prayer. The tradition about the healing of some youth from a bodily affliction through this holy icon is recorded in the book of…
The “Myrrh-Bearing” Icon of the Mother of God of Tsarevokokshaisk (in the province of Kazan) appeared to the peasant Andrew Ivanov on May 1, 1647 near Bolshaya Kuznetsa, fifteen versts from the city of Tsarevokokshaisk in the Kazan region. Working in the field, Andrew noticed an icon…
The Putivil Icon depicts the Mother of God holding Christ on her left arm, and with a ladder behind her right hand. Christ is holding an orb in His left hand, and bestows a blessing with His right. The Putivil Icon is thought to be a copy of the Abul Icon from Mt Abul in Serbia.
The Svena Caves Icon of the Mother of God was painted by Saint Alypios of the Caves (August 17). In the Icon the Mother of God is depicted sitting upon a throne, and with the Divine Infant on her lap. Saint Theodosios is on the right side of the throne, and Saint Anthony of the Caves on the left.…
The Kiev Caves Icon of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos is one of the most ancient icons in the Russian Orthodox Church. The Mother of God entrusted it to four Byzantine architects, who in 1073 brought the icon to Saints Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves. The architects arrived at the…
The Staro Rus (Old Russian) Icon of the Mother of God was so named because for a long time it was in Staro Rus, where it had been brought by the Greeks from Olviopolis during the very first period of Christianity in Russia. The icon was in Staro Rus until the seventeenth century. In 1655 during a…
According to the iconographic models, the Inexhaustible Chalice Icon of the Mother of God belongs to the Orans type -the Mother of God is depicted with her hands upraised, before her is the Divine Infant standing in the chalice. This is the Communion Chalice – an inexhaustible source of…
The Zhirovits Icon of the Mother of God appeared in the year 1470 in the vicinity of Zhirovits on the Grodnensk frontier. In the forest, belonging to the Orthodox Lithuanian dignitary Alexander Solton, shepherds beheld an extraordinarily bright light, while peering through the branches of a pear…
The Lubech Icon of the Mother of God received its name from the city of Lubech, on the outskirts of Chernigov. The icon manifested itself during the eleventh century. The miracles of this icon were described by Saint Demetrius of Rostov. In 1653, when an invasion of the Poles against Lubech was…
The wonderworking Kiev-Bratsk (i.e. "Brotherhood") Icon of the Mother of God was revealed in 1654, and was originally kept in the church of Saints Boris and Gleb in the city of Vyshgorod (Kiev), and was placed in a shrine to the left of the Royal Doors on the iconostasis. On May 10, 1662, during…
The Kazan-Yaroslavl Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos was found in the year 1588 by a man named Gerasimos, who had traveled to Kazan to pray before its famous Icon, because his right hand had become crippled. The Mother of God appeared to him and ordered him to go to a certain place, and then to take…
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Alexandra Dmitrievna Dobychkina, who was from a middle-class family in Yaroslavl, suffered terribly from spiritual and physical ailments for seventeen years. In 1823 she beheld a vision of a church in which was an Icon of the Mother of God. Offering her heartfelt prayers to the Most Holy Theotokos,…
The Celebration of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God was established to commemorate the deliverance of Moscow from an invasion of Tatars led by Khan Makhmet-Girei in 1521. The Tatar hordes approached Moscow, burning and destroying Russian cities and villages, and exterminating their…
The sacred Tenderness Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos was painted and brought to the Pskov Caves monastery through the efforts of the devout Pskov merchants Basil and Theodore. It was transferred it to the town of Pskov in the year 1521, and was glorified by miracles of healing in 1524. The…
The Cyprus Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos is also commemorated on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, Pentecost Monday, April 20 and July 9.
The name of this Icon is derived from a poem to the Mother of God which was composed by Saint Damiane (King Demetre I before his monastic tonsure): "You are a vineyard newly-blossomed...." Similar imagery may be found in other liturgical texts, such as the Theotokion of the Third Hour: (Tone 6)…
The appearance of the Voronin Icon of the Mother of God occurred on June 15, 1518, 12 km south of Cherepovets, on the site of the present churchyard near the village of Voronino. John, the sexton of Archangel Michael church in the village of Ilyinskoye, went to the Konechnov forest and on his way…
The Holy Martyr Heliconis lived during the third century in the city of Thessalonica. Saint Heliconis arrived in the city of Corinth during a persecution of Christians, and urged the pagans to stop serving senseless idols and instead to worship the one true God, the Creator of the universe. She…
The Nicaea Icon of the Mother of God appeared in the city of Nicaea in Asia Minor in the year 304, as the city was under siege. One of the soldiers, whose name was Constantine, saw the Icon of the Theotokos and threw a stone at it. Then he began to trample it underfoot. That night, the Mother of…
The Icon of the Mother of God “Surety of Sinners” is known by this name because of the inscription on the icon: “I am the Surety of sinners for My Son Who has entrusted Me to hear them, and those who bring Me the joy of hearing them will receive eternal joy through Me.” The…
The Kiev-Bratsk Icon of the Mother of God is also commemorated on September 6, May 10, and on Saturday of the Fifth Week of Great Lent.
The Igor Icon of the Mother of God. The holy Passion-Bearer and Great Prince of Kiev Igor Ol’govich (September 19, 1147), prayed before this icon during the last moments of his life. It was in the chapel of Saint John the Theologian in the Dormition cathedral of the Kiev Caves Lavra. This…
The first mention of the Pimenov Icon dates from the second half of the XVI century. There is a brief chronicler's note for the years 1404-1407 in the book Grades of Royal Genealogy: "A miracle occurred in Moscow at the home of the Tyutryum family, where myron flowed from the icons of the Mother of…
The Yaroslavl Icon of the Mother of God became the first wonderworking Icon revealed by the Most Pure Theotokos during the Tatar-Mongol yoke. It was brought to Russia (probably from Kiev) almost immediately after Batu's invasions. In this way, the Icon of the Mother of God visited the Russian land…
This holy icon belonged to Saint Cyril of White Lake (June 9), and he kept it in his cell. Saint Cyril was living at the Simonov Monastery, but his soul yearned for solitude, and he asked the Mother of God to show him a place conducive for salvation. One night he was reading an Akathist in his cell…
According to Tradition, during the iconoclast persecution of Leo III the Isaurian (717-741), an Icon of the Theotokos was slashed by the sword of one of the Emperor’s soldiers. Blood flowed from the Icon into the sea. Shaken by this sign, the repentant sinner fled to Mount Athos. One day he…
Miraculously, the Velikorets Icon of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker was found in the land of Vyatka in the XVI century. According to legend, a certain believer, who had left home on business, saw many burning candles near the Great River. Bewildered, he stopped, but then drove on. On his return…
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The Bogolyubov Icon of the Mother of God, one of the most ancient wonderworking icons of Russia, was painted in the twelfth century at the request of Prince Andrew Bogolyubsky (July 4), to commemorate the appearance of the Mother of God to him. Painted on cypress wood, the Icon is remarkable…
Saint Terence was Bishop of Iconium in Lycaonia in the first century. He was tortured and beheaded for his faith in Christ.
Today the church celebrates the miracle of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, which led to the saving of Moscow from the invasion of Khan Achmed in 1480. The Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos is also commemorated on May 21 and August 26.
According to Tradition, a copy of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God was painted in 1521 by the devout Hieromonk Arsenios Khitrosh. Between 1529-1570 the Icon was brought to the Pskov Caves Monastery by the merchants Basil and Theodore, when Saint Cornelius († February 20, 1571) was the…
According to ancient tradition, the wonderworking icon of Tikhvin is one of several painted by Saint Luke the Evangelist. The icon was taken from Jerusalem to Constantinople in the fifth century, where it was enshrined in the Church of Blachernae, which was built especially for this purpose. In…
The Seven Lakes Icon is one of the icons which enjoy extraordinary veneration in the places where it is located. The day of celebration in her honor is a celebration not only for the Seven Lakes Hermitage and Kazan, but also for the entire Prikama Volga region. At the end of the XVI century, in…
The Neamts Icon of the Mother of God was given as a gift by the Byzantine emperor Andronicus Paleologos to the Moldavian ruler Alexander the Voevod in 1399, and then placed into the Moldavian Neamts Ascension monastery. One of the Moldavian princes gave a copy of the icon to a Russian landowner by…
The wonderworking Lydda Icon is mentioned in the service for the Kazan Icon (July 8 & October 22) in the third Ode of the Canon. According to Tradition, the Apostles Peter and John were preaching in Lydda (later called Diospolis) near Jerusalem. There they built a church dedicated to the Most Holy…
The Icon of the Mother of God, “Of the Three Hands”: In the eighth century during the time of the Iconoclasts, Saint John of Damascus (December 4) was zealous in his veneration of holy icons. Because of this, he was slandered by the emperor and iconoclast Leo III the Isaurian (717-740),…
The Kasperov Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. Tradition says that this holy icon had been brought to Cherson from Transylvania by a Serb at the end of the sixteenth century. Passing down from parent and child, the icon had come to a certain Mrs. Kasperova of Cherson in 1809. One night in February…
The Balikin Icon of the Mother of God is from the Chernigov Province. The child Christ is clothed only around the waist, and rests in His Mother’s lap. The hands of the Theotokos are joined in prayer.
The Akhtyr Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos appeared on July 2, 1739 in the village of Akhtyr in the area of Kharkov, east of Kiev. Father Basil Danilov, a righteous man of strong faith, was the priest of the Dormition church in Akhtyr. He wanted to try out a new scythe, and so he went out to a…
The Pozhai Dormition Monastery was founded in the XVII century on the banks of the Neman River. Its precious shrine was a wonderworking Icon of the Mother of God called Pozhai. It is of very ancient origin and was sent from Rome by Pope Alexander VII as a sign of special favor to the founder of the…
This Icon appeared in 1483 in the vicinity of Ryazan in a desert place called "Staroe," near the village of Theodotiev Since numerous healings began to occur from the Icon, by order of the Ryazan prince it was transferred to the city of Ryazan and placed with due honor in the cathedral church of…
The “Milk-Giver” Icon of the Mother of God was originally located at the Lavra of Saint Savva the Sanctified near Jerusalem. Before his death, the holy founder of the Lavra foretold that a royal pilgrim having the same name as himself would visit the Lavra. Saint Savva told the brethren…
Saint Andrew Rublev, Russia’s greatest iconographer, was born near Moscow sometime between 1360 and 1370. While still very young, he went to the Holy Trinity Monastery, and was profoundly impressed by Saint Sergius of Radonezh (September 25). After the death of Saint Sergius in 1392, Saint…
The Galatea Icon of the Mother of God is found in Galatea (one of the districts of Constantinople), at Perge (in a tower). In honor of the holy icon a monastery was formed, which existed until the seventeenth century. An exact copy of the icon is located in Moscow, in the Church of Saint Tikhon, at…
The Economissa (or Stewardess) Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos depicts the Mother of God seated on a throne, with Her Son on her left knee. Saint Athanasius of Mt Athos (July 5) stands on her right, holding a model of the Great Lavra. On her left is Saint Michael of Synnada (May 23). Two angels…
The Blachernae Icon of the Mother of God was discovered at Jerusalem by the empress Eudokia during the time of Saint Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem (July 2), and Saint Euthymius the Great (January 20). The holy icon was sent to Constantinople, where the empress Pulcheria placed it in the Blacernae…
The wonderworking Kazan Icon has great significance for the faithful of Russia, and Russian Orthodox families treat it with unparalleled reverence. The magnificent Kazan Cathedral was built in Saint Petersburg, to house the Icon. For the most part, it is this Icon that blesses the young to the…
The Tenderness icon of the Mother of God belongs to the Eleousa (Umilenie) type. On July 8, 1337 a caretaker in Holy Trinity Church in Novgorod heard a noise inside the church and went to investigate. He was astonished to see that the icon of the Mother of God from the second tier of icons above…
The Ustiug Annunciation Icon of the Mother of God The “Ustiug Annunciation” is a venerable icon, before which Saint Procopius, Fool-for-Christ (+ 1303) prayed with intense fervor on June 25, 1290 for the salvation of the city of Ustiug from the wrath of God. The icon was painted by a…
The Annals of Tambov state that the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was in the Transfiguration Cathedral of Tambov from the first years of the city’s existence (it had been founded in 1636), and it was the main shrine in the region of Tambov. According to the Annals, “on December 6,…
The Koloch Icon of the Mother of God manifested itself in the year 1413 during the reign of Basil I, 15 versts from the city of Mozhaisk, in the vicinity of Koloch in the Smolensk governia. A peasant of this village by the name of Luke found the holy icon and took it to his home. One of his…
The Cyprus Icon of the Mother of God belongs to the Panachrana type. In this icon the Mother of God is depicted sitting on a throne with the Divine Infant in Her arms. On either side of Her is an angel. The prototype of this holy icon manifested itself in the year 392 on the island of Cyprus at…
According to Tradition, the Konevits Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos was brought from Mount Athos by Saint Arsenios the wonderworker (June 12) in the year 1393. He was tonsured as a monk at Lisogorsk Monastery in Novgorod, and then spent three years living on Mount Athos. Igoumen John Zidon gave…
The Rzhevsk (or Okovetsk) Icon of the Mother of God is from the Rzhevets Monastery in Poltava. On May 26, 1539, on the day of the Descent of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost), in Tver diocese, in Vyryshensk town situated in a virgin forest on the bank of the rivulet Vyryshna in the Okovetsk district, not…
The Icon of the Mother of God “Of the Three Hands”: The wonderworking icon, before which Saint John of Damascus (December 4) received healing of his amputated hand, was given by him to the Lavra of Saint Savva the Sanctified. In the thirteenth century the icon was in Serbia, and…
The Holy Martyr Marcian, a native of Lycian Iconium, while still at a youthful age converted many to Christ by his fiery preaching. For his zeal the idol-worshippers subjected the saint to bodily punishment, and then sent him to Cappadocia to the governor Perennias. By persuasion and threats, he…
The “It is Truly Meet” Icon of the Mother of God is in the high place of the altar of the cathedral church of the Karyes monastery on Mount Athos. One Saturday night an Elder went to Karyes for the all-night Vigil. He left, instructing his disciple to remain behind and read the service…
In the XV century, in the territory of the Pskov principality, there was a certain village called Chirsk, or Chersk, where, in the church of the Nativity of Christ, there was a Hodēgḗtria Icon of the Mother of God. In 1420, during the reign of Tsar Basil I of Moscow, and when Archbishop Simeon…
The Sviatogorsk Icon of the Mother of God is from the Sviatogorsky Monastery in the province of Pskov. In the year 1563, during the time of Ivan the Terrible, in the environs of Pskov a “Tenderness” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos appeared to a fifteen-year-old shepherd and fool named…
The Tolga Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos appeared on August 8, 1314 to the Rostov hierarch Prochorus (Tryphon in schema). Going about his diocese, the saint visited the environs of White Lake and from there traveled along the banks of the Rivers Sheksna and Volga, to Yaroslavl. Having stopped with…
The Chukhloma Icon of the Mother of God of Galich appeared in the year 1350 to Saint Abraham of Galich, who came there from the north for ascetical labors with the blessing of Saint Sergius of Radonezh. On the wild shores of the Galich lake near the large mountain, hidden in the dense forest, he…
The Armatia Icon of the Mother of God was in Constantinople at the Armatian monastery. The place where the monastery was located, was called “Armation” or “of the Armatians” and received its name from the military magister Armatios, nephew of the tyrant Basiliscus, and a…
High upon the fir-covered mountain peaks of southwestern Eurytania, wedged between vertical grayish rocks in savage majesty, is the Holy Monastery of Proussos. It is an historic stauropegial monastery, with magnificent three-storey buildings. There among them a cave has been carved out, inside of…
The Icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” (With Coins) was glorified in the year 1888 in St. Petersburg, when during the time of a terrible thunderstorm lightning struck in a chapel. All was burned or singed, except for this icon of the Queen of Heaven. It was knocked to the…
Commemoration of the Miraculous Appearance of the Mother of God at Pochaev, which saved the Monastery from the assault of the Tatars and Turks The Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God is among the most revered sacred objects of the Orthodox Church. Located in the Dormition Cathedral at Pochaev,…
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The Smolensk “Hodēgḗtria” Icon of the Theotokos, or “She who leads the way,” was, according to Church Tradition, painted by the holy Evangelist Luke during the earthly life of the Most Holy Theotokos. The holy hierarch Demetrius of Rostov suggests that this icon was…
The Greben Icon of the Mother of God, glorified by miracles and located in a church in the city of Greben (on the River Chira, flowing into the Don), was presented by the inhabitants of the city to Great Prince Demetrius of the Don upon his return from the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380. In 1471,…
The Seraphim-Diveyevo Tenderness Icon of the Mother of God belonged to Saint Seraphim of Sarov, and was the Icon he kept in his cell. The Saint anointed the sick with oil from the lampada burning before this Icon, and they received healing. The holy ascetic reposed while praying before the Icon on…
The White Lake Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos resembles the Vladimir Icon (May 21, June 23, August 26) in appearance. It was originally in the cell of Saint Cyril of White Lake (June 9), who often prayed before it. One day, while he was chanting the Akathist before this icon, the Mother of God…
The Kostroma Hodēgḗtria Icon of the Mother of God was painted in 1672 on the wall of the southwest tower of the Kostroma Theophany monastery. In 1779 a great conflagration occurred at the monastery, and the tower was all enveloped by flames, but the holy Icon of the Mother of God did not suffer…
The Ustiuzhena Icon of the Mother of God (1290), glorified by many miracles, was situated in the city of Ustiuzhna under Novgorod governance (now Vologda district). At the beginning of the seventeenth century the inhabitants of Ustiushna, praying for salvation before this holy icon, were delivered…
The Holy Icon of the Voroninsk Mother of God was situated in the Voroninsk Dormition of the Mother of God hermitage in the Cherepovetsk district of Novgorod governance. Its appearance occurred in 1524.
In 1555, the Icon of the Mother of God “Of Saint Christopher” was put in the church of the monastery founded by Saint Christopher of Solvychegodsk (July 25), a disciple of Saint Longinus of Koryazkemsk (February 10). This icon was glorified by many miracles, and near the monastery a…
The Holy Suprasl Icon of the Mother of God was in the Annunciation women’s monastery of Grodnensk governance at the beginning of the sixteenth century. It was glorified by many miracles and both Orthodox and Catholics piously reverence it. The icon is one of the Hodēgḗtria type.
The Vydropussk Hodēgḗtria Icon of the Mother of God in the fifteenth century was in the church of the Great Martyr George in the village of Vydropussk, Novgorod governia. During the time of a conflagration of the church, this holy icon remained undamaged. After the taking of Novgorod by the…
The Wonderworking Yuga Icon of the Mother of God appeared at the beginning of the seventeenth century to the Elder Saint Dorotheus, schemamonk of the Pskov Caves monastery. The Mother of God, during an invasion of the Swedes, commanded him to take Her image to a place She specified, and to bring…
The Holy Igritsa Icon of the Mother of God appeared in the year 1624 in Igritsa at the River Pesochna not far from the city of Kostroma. Local peasants found the icon in an old half-ruined church, for fifty years it was left neglected after a deadly plague. The icon stood in the altar and shone…
The Holy Hodēgḗtria Icon of the Mother of God, named the Shui, appeared in the city of Shui of Vladimir diocese at the very height of a raging deadly epidemic in the years 1654-1655. The inhabitants of the city combatted this misfortune by prayer, and gathered together in the churches,…
The Seven Lakes (Sedmiezernaya) Icon of the Mother of God was glorified by great miracles in the seventeenth century in the area around the city of Kazan. This holy icon was in the Seven Lakes hermitage near the city of Kazan. Originally, seven small lakes surrounded the monastery, but these later…
The Holy Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God is located at the Holy Trinity Sergiev Lavra in the Smolensk church on the left side of the Royal Doors. From this icon in 1730 there a cantor, whose hands were bent and rigid to the back, received healing. The Mother of God appeared to him in a vision…
There is no reliable historical information about the origin of the Okonsk Icon of the Mother of God, but it is thought that the Icon came from Georgia. According to tradition, the Okonsk Icon was received by the Georgian King Vakhtang IV from Jerusalem in the XV century, and at first it was at…
One of the greatest treasures in the possession of the Monastery of New Valamo in Heinävesi, Finland is the wonderworking icon of the Mother of God of Valaam. Painted on lime wood, the 132 x 79.5 cm icon depicts the Virgin Mary as a full-length figure standing on a cloud with lowered gaze,…
Saint Gregory, Iconographer of the Caves, was a colleague of Saint Alypius of the Caves (August 17). In the “Accounts of the holy Iconographers” it says that he painted many wonderworking icons throughout the Russian Land. In the Ninth Ode of the Canon of the Service of the Synaxis of…
The Tolga Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos appeared on August 8, 1314 to the Rostov hierarch Prochorus (Tryphon in schema). Going about his diocese, the saint visited the environs of White Lake and from there traveled along the banks of the Rivers Sheksna and Volga, to Yaroslavl. He stopped with the…
In the Constantinople Icon of the Mother of God, the child Christ is naked to the waist, and is carried in His Mother’s right hand. Her left hand rests on His knees.
On Tverskaya Street in Moscow there are beautiful buildings, a cathedral, high walls, and a small bell tower with the sonorous bells of the Passion Monastery. This Icon received its name because on either side of the Mother of God two Angels are depicted with the implements of the Lord’s Passion:…
On the Seven Arrows Icon, the Most Holy Theotokos is depicted without the Divine Infant. She inclines her head toward her right shoulder, and her heart is pierced with seven arrows or swords, of which four are on the left side and three on the right. A similar image of the Mother of God is also…
The Minsk Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos was brought by the holy Prince Vladimir from Korsun in the Crimea, and placed in Kiev’s Cathedral of the Tithes, where it remained for more than 500 years. The consecration of that church in 996 is commemorated on May 12. In the year 1500, during the…
The “Conversational" Icon of the Mother of God received its name because it depicts the Mother of God and Saint Nicholas of Myra conversing with the sacristan George, also called Yurysh. This event occurred soon after the appearance of the Tikhvin Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos in 1383, when the…
The Narva Icon of the Mother of God became famous in the year 1558, when the Russian army attacked the city of Narva. In one of the houses where Russian merchants had once lived, drunken Germans grabbed an icon of the Mother of God that had been left behind. Mocking the holy thing, they threw it…
The wonderworking "Sophia, the Wisdom of God" Icon of the Mother of God is found in many churches in Russia. There are two main types: Kiev and Novgorod. The first icon of "Sophia, the Wisdom of God" appeared in Novgorod in the XV century, although the first church in Russia dedicated to her was…
This unusual icon comes from the Russian town of Rybinsk, in Yaroslavl province. The Mother of God and the Divine Child are wrapped in what appears to be a priest’s phelonion, and Angels are depicted on either side, holding lighted candles. Beneath the Virgin’s feet and on her head…
Tradition ascribes a very ancient origin to this famous Icon. It is regarded as one of the icons painted by the Holy Evangelist Luke. It is not known by whom or when the Icon was brought to Russia, but at the beginning of the XII century it was kept in an old wooden chapel near the city of Kitezh.…
Venerable Alypios of the Caves was one of the first and best Russian iconographers. He was tonsured by Igoumen Nikon († March 23, 1088). Later, he was ordained as a Hieromonk. From a young age he labored in the Kiev Caves Monastery and studied iconography with the Greek masters who painted the…
The Kiev Caves Icon of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos is one of the most ancient icons in the Russian Orthodox Church. The Mother of God entrusted it to four Byzantine architects, who in 1073 brought the icon to Saints Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves. The architects arrived at the…
The Svena Icon of the Mother of God has two commemorations: May 3, the Feast of Saint Theodosios of the Caves, and August 17, the Feast of Saint Alypios of the Caves. The Svena Icon of the Mother of God was painted by Saint Alypios of the Caves († August 17, 1114). It depicts the Mother of God…
The Armatia Icon of the Mother of God was in Constantinople at the Armatian monastery. The place where the monastery was located, was called “Armation” or “of the Armatians” and received its name from the military magister Armatias, nephew of the tyrant Basiliscus, and a…
The Hodēgḗtria (or “Directress”) Icon of the Mother of God. According to Tradition, this icon in the Mela monastery near Trebizond was painted by the Evangelist Luke.
The Don Icon of the Mother of God was painted by Theophanes the Greek. On the day of the Kulikovo Battle (September 8, 1380, the Feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos), the Icon was with the Russian army, giving it help, but after the victory it was passed on by the Don Cossacks as a…
In 1622, the Persian Shah Abbas I, after the devastating invasion of Orthodox Georgia, took part of the Robe of the Lord, and some especially revered icons. Three years later, when the Russian clerk Stephen Lazarev was in Persia to do some trading, a certain person from the Shah's retinue offered…
The Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Of Saint Peter” was so called because it was painted by Saint Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow (+ December 21, 1326) while he was igumen of the Ratsk monastery near Volhynia. During a visit to the Ratsk monastery by Saint Maximus, Metropolitan of Kiev…
The Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God was painted by the Evangelist Luke on a board from the table at which the Savior ate together with His All-Pure Mother and Righteous Joseph. The Mother of God, upon seeing this image, exclaimed, “Henceforth, all generations shall call Me blessed. The…
The “Tenderness” Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God was found in the monastery of the caves in 1521, and was transferred to the city of Pskov by the pious Christians Basil and Theodore. The Icon is particularly renowned for the deliverance of Pskov and the Pskov Caves monastery from…
The Miasena Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos was thrown into Lake Zagura in the ninth century in an effort to save it from the iconoclasts. After a long time, the wonderworking icon emerged from the water unharmed and was brought to the Miasena Monastery.
The Chernigov-Gethsemane Icon of the Mother of God is a copy of the famed Ilyin-Chernigov Icon of the Mother of God (April 16), which was to be found at the Trinity-Ilyin monastery near Chernigov on Mount Boldina, and where in the eleventh century Saint Anthony of the Kiev Caves struggled in…
(New Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Savior) The original “All Blessed” (Pammakaristos) Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos is in Constantinople in the patriarchal cathedral. It is a mosaic icon dating from the middle of the eleventh century. In 1905, Patriarch Joachim III presented…
The Kaluga Icon of the Mother of God appeared in 1748 in the village of Tinkova, near Kaluga, at the home of the landowner Basil Kondratevich Khitrov. Two servants of Khitrov were cleaning out junk from the attic of his home. One of them, Eudokia, noted for her temper, was given to rough and even…
The exact origin of this Icon is unknown. The miracles by which it was glorified, and the information which has come down to us, date back to the VI century, and even then it was called ancient. Evidence of the Icon's presence in Sozopol can be documented up to the VIII century, after which it is…
One of the Old Testament prototypes pointing to the Mother of God is the Unburnt Bush - the Bush which Moses saw on Mount Horeb. It was on fire, but was not consumed (Exodus 3:2). This Bush signifies the Mother of God's sinless conception of Christ when the Holy Spirit came upon her and she was…
The Kiev-Bratsk Icon of the Mother of God was at first in the church of Saints Boris and Gleb in the city of Vyshgorod (Kiev), where it miraculously appeared in the year 1654. In 1662, when Russia was at war with Poland (1659-1667), the city was dealt heavy losses by the Crimean Tatars fighting on…
The Arapet, or “Arabian” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos appeared while the holy Apostle Thomas (October 6) was evangelizing Ethiopia, Arabia, and India. Instead of the usual three stars (signifying the perpetual virginity of the Mother of God), the outer garment of the Theotokos has…
The Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God “Of the Sign” is one of the most ancient icons of the Russian Church. In the thirteenth century during the Tatar invasion, when all the Russian realm was put to the extremest tribulation, the city of Kursk, ravaged by the Horde of Batu, fell into…
In the year 1340, two monks came and settled in a cave on the hill where the monastery is now located. After reading his usual Prayer Rule, one of them went to the top of the hill, and and suddenly he beheld the Theotokos standing on a rock and enveloped in flames. He summoned the other monk, who…
The Kholm Icon of the Mother of God, by a tradition transmitted through Bishop James the Emaciated, was painted by the Evangelist Luke. It was brought from Greece to Russia in the time of Saint Vladimir, who after Baptism received many icons as a gift from Constantinople. The Kholm image of the…
The Icon of Sophia, the Wisdom of God (Kiev), occupies an unique place in the Russian Orthodox Church. On the icon is depicted the Theotokos, and the Hypostatic Wisdom, the Son of God incarnate of Her. In Wisdom or Sophia, ponders the Son of God, about Whom in the Proverbs of Solomon it says:…
The Syamsk Icon of the Mother of God was found at the Syamsk-Vologda monastery, established in the sixteenth century. In the year 1542, during a fire at the monastery, only the wonderworking icon was saved. After the fire, the monastery was rebuilt. In the year 1770, a church was built at the…
The Glinsk Icon of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos appeared in the seventeenth century in the Glinsk wilderness of the Kursk region. A monastery was established in 1648 and received its name from the noble Glinsky family.
The Domnitsa Icon of the Mother of God appeared in the year 1696 on the bank of the Domnitsa River in Chernigov diocese, not far from the city of Berezna. At the place of appearance of the icon a monastery was established, in which was situated the wonderworking image. In the year 1771 the…
The Isaakov Icon of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos appeared in the year 1659, not far from the village of Isaakievo. The peasants wanted to take the icon to their own village, but they were not able. They then turned to the priest, and he got vested, and in the company of choir and people…
The Lukianov Icon of the Nativity of the Theotokos is from a church in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in the village of Ignatiev. In 1594, it appeared three times in the wilderness area of Pokovitino-Ramen’e, not far from the village. The priest Gregory, after he consulted…
This wonderworking icon depicting the Nativity of the Theotokos is venerated on the Greek island of Ithaca.
At the end of the XVII century, 20 versts from the city of Akhtyrka, in Kharkov province, in the village of Kaplunovka, on the Khukhra River, lived a pious priest, Father John Umanov. On September 11, 1689 a wonderworking Icon of the Mother of God was given to him. On September 8, the Feast of the…
The Lesna Icon of the Mother of God appeared on the Feast of the Universal Exaltation of the Cross in the year 1683 and was found by Alexander Stelmashuk, a shepherd, who had gone into the woods in order to escape the heat. There he saw a small Icon in the branches of a pear tree, emitting a bright…
This is one of the most ancient icons of the Mother of God. It appeared to the holy martyr Nikḗtas (+ September 15, 372). Saint Nikḗtas, a former soldier, was a disciple of Bishop Theophilos of the Goths. Even before he was baptized, he saw a Child in a dream, holding a Cross in His hand. When…
The Support of the Humble Icon of the Mother of God appeared in 1420 in the city of Pskov at Kamennoye (Stony) Lake. The circumstances of its miraculous appearance are not known, but perhaps the Holy Icon was found by the people of Pskov as a consolation for the great calamities they endured during…
There are two Icons called Constantinople which differ significantly from one other. According to Tradition, the Constantinople Icon of the Mother of God commemorated on April 25, is one of the Icons painted by the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke. How and under what circumstances this…
The Makariev “Directress” Icon of the Mother of God appeared during the reign of Prince Basil the Dark (1425-1462) to Saint Macarius the Wonderworker, who labored in asceticism on the desolate shores of the River Unzha. On September 17, 1442 at about the third hour of the morning, when…
The Staro Rus Icon of the Mother of God was so named because for a long time it was in Staro Rus, where it had been brought by the Greeks from Olviopolis during the very first period of Christianity in Russia. The icon was in Staro Rus until the seventeenth century. In 1655 during a plague it was…
The original icon known as “Tselitel’nitsa,” or “The Healer” was from the Tsilkan church in Kartali, Georgia. It was painted at the time of Saint Nino (January 14). There is another icon with the same name in the Alexeev women’s monastery in Moscow, and many…
The Slovenka Icon of the Mother of God manifested itself on September 23, 1635 at the village of Slovenka, Kostroma district. A certain hunter while hunting by chance discovered a small rickety church, overgrown with moss. He went inside and saw that all the church utensils had rotted with time,…
The Mirozh Icon appeared at the Mirozh monastery in the year 1198. But later, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, at a time when a plague raged at Pskov, an ancient report tells how tears flowed from both eyes of the icon. Many benefits and healings for man occured from the icon of the Mother of…
The Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Of the Myrtle Tree” (Myrtidiotissa) is in the monastery church of Myrtides on the Greek island of Kythera. It derives its name from the fact that it was found in a myrtle bush in the fourteenth century. At that time, a shepherd was tending his sheep…
The Ivḗron Icon of the Mother of God (which is preserved on Mt. Athos) was kept in the home of a certain pious widow, who lived near Nicea. During the reign of the emperor Theophilus, the Iconoclasts came to the house of this Christian, and one of the soldiers struck the image of the Mother of…
There is an Icon of the Mother of God with this name in Moscow, in the Dormition church of the Mogil'tsy. Another "Unfading Flower" Icon is in the third-class Ardatov women's monastery of the Protection, in the city of Ardatov, 50 versts from Arzamas. The Unfading Flower Icon shows the Mother of…
The Feast of the Pskov-Protection Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos was established in memory of the miraculous deliverance of Pskov from the invading troops of the Polish king Stephen Bathory in 1581. During the siege, they carried forth the wonderworking Dormition Icon of the Mother of God in…
The Gerbovets Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God was acknowledged as wonderworking in the year 1859, but it was revered by believers of the Kishinev diocese even earlier. According to Tradition, this icon was brought to the Gerbovets monastery (Bessarabia, Romania) in the year 1790.
The Barsk Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God is an ancient icon of Byzantine origin from the Barsk monastery in the Podosk diocese. The icon was historically venerated as holy by both Orthodox and Catholics. The solemn celebration was established in 1887.
The wonderworking Kasperov Icon of the Mother of God is a great sacred treasure of the cities of Kherson and Odessa, where it is kept for about six months a year. The days of its arrival at Odessa (October 1), and of its departure – on the fourth day of Pascha (Bright Wednesday) – have become…
October 1 commemorates the transfer of the Terebovlya Icon of the Mother of God from the town of Terebovlya to Lvov in 1672. This icon of the Most Holy Theotokos originally appeared in the principality of Galich during the time of the Terebovlya princes, in the thirteenth, or perhaps as early as…
The Icon “O All-Hymned Mother” derives its title from the thirteenth Kontakion of the Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos. “O All-Hymned Mother who bore the Word, holiest of all the saints....” The Mother of God wears a crown, and clasps Her child to Her breast with both…
The “Tenderness” Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God was found in the monastery of the caves in 1521, and was transferred to the city of Pskov by the pious Christians Basil and Theodore. The Icon is particularly renowned for the deliverance of Pskov and the Pskov Caves monastery from…
The Korsun Icon of the Mother of God is believed to be one of those painted by the holy Evangelist Luke, and it had been preserved in Ephesus. On October 9, 988, a copy of this icon was transferred from Korsun to Kiev by the holy Great Prince Vladimir (July 15), and it came to be called the Korsun…
Today we commemorate a copy of the “Assuage My Sorrows” Icon (January 25) which is treasured in the Saint Nicholas Odrino Monastery in the Orel Diocese, Karachev district. Until 1784, this icon belonged to Count Nicholas Borisovitch Samoilov, who regarded it as a holy icon. At first,…
In the XIII century, there was a certain Elder who spent his life in ascetical struggles on Mount Athos. He had the pious custom of reading the Akathist Hymn before the Icon of the Mother of God every day. One day, while reading the Akathist, and silently repeating the word "rejoice," the Elder…
Commemoration of the Miracle of the Icon of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Beret: At the fourth session of the Seventh Ecumenical Council (in 787), Saint Peter, Bishop of Nicomedia, in defending the necessity of icon veneration, presented an account of Saint Athanasius about a miracle which occurred in…
The Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God, by tradition, was painted by the holy Evangelist Luke fifteen years after the Ascension of the Lord at Gethsemane. In the year 463, the icon was transferred to Constantinople. The Byzantine army carried the Jerusalem Icon into battle when they turned back…
The Rudens Icon of the Mother of God appeared in the year 1687 in the Rudno locale of Mogilevsk diocese. In 1712 the icon was transferred to the Florovsk Ascension monastery in Kiev, where now it is located.
The Translation from Malta to Gatchina of a Portion of the Life-Creating Cross of the Lord, together with the Philermos Icon of the Mother of God (from Mount Philermos on the Greek island of Rhodes), and the right hand of Saint John the Baptist took place in the year 1799. These holy things were…
The Yaroslav-Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God was the cell icon of the archimandrite of the Trinity-St Sergius Lavra, Anthony. On October 12, 1642 while he was praying, he heard a voice from the Smolensk Hodēgḗtria (Directress) icon saying, “Go, go to the limits of the city of Yaroslavl,…
The Kaluga Icon of the Mother of God appeared in the year 1748 (September 2). In 1812 many Russian and French soldiers beheld the Kaluga icon of the Mother of God, standing in the air. Thus also it was around Kaluga and Maloyaroslavl. During such appearances the Russian armies were always…
The Ivḗron Icon of the Mother of God, located on Mount Athos, has been glorified by many miracles. Accounts of the wonderworking image were spread throughout Russia by pilgrims. His Holiness Patriarch Nikon (then still Abbot of the Novospasky monastery) asked Abbot Pachomius of the Ivḗron…
The Seven Lakes Icon of the Mother of God was brought from Ustiug near Kazan on October 13, 1615 by the monk Euthymius, founder of the Seven Lakes Mother of God monastery. He blessed the place of the future monastery with this icon. Feastdays of the Seven Lakes Icon were established in memory of…
The Yakhrom Icon of the Mother of God appeared to the holy youth Cosmas (February 18), while he was accompanying his master, a sick landowner. Cosmas had stopped at the bank of the Yakhrom River, not far from Vladimir, and the sick man fell asleep. Cosmas suddenly saw a bright light coming from a…
The Icon of the Mother of God, the “Multiplier of Wheat”, was painted at the blessing of the Elder Ambrose (October 10) of the Visitation Optina wilderness monastery. Saint Ambrose, a great Russian ascetic of the nineteenth century, was ardent with a childlike faith towards the Mother…
This wonderworking Icon of the Mother of God "A Virgin Before and After Giving Birth” is located in Saint Nicholas Monastery, Dmitrovsky County, Moscow. It was transferred to Saint Nicholas Monastery by the Moscow merchant Alexei Grigorievich Mokeyev. Around the year 1780 Alexei joined the…
At the beginning of the XIX century the remarkable ascetic Constantine Theodoulos was a monk on Mount Athos. This Elder had a wonderworking Icon of the Theotokos, which had been painted about 150 years before. After this ascetic's repose, the Icon was passed on to Constantine's disciple,…
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The Commemoration of the Deliverance of Moscow From the Poles by the Kazan Icon was established in gratitude for the deliverance of Moscow and all Russia from the incursion of the Polish in 1612. The end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries is known in Russian history as…
The Andronicus Icon of the Mother of God was a family icon of the Byzantine emperor Andronicus III. In 1347 he gave the icon to the Monemvasia monastery at Morea in the Peloponnesos. From here the image was sent to Russia in 1839. In 1877 the holy icon was placed in a temple of the Kazan…
How much consolation is contained in just the name of this Icon - awakening, strengthening the people's faith in the Mother of God, as a wondrous helper, who hastens everywhere where the groan of human suffering is heard, who wipes away the tears of those who mourn, and in sorrow itself, bestows…
The main commemoration of the Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “of the Sign” is November 27.
The Great Martyr Paraskevi (Paraskevḗ) of Iconium, lived during the third century in a rich and pious family. The parents of the saint especially reverenced Friday, the day of the Passion of the Lord, and therefore they called their daughter Paraskevi. This name, Paraskevi, also means Friday.…
The history of the Stockholm Icon of the Mother of God is closely connected with the sacred symbol of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God (June 26) which appeared in Russia in 1383, on the banks of the Tikhvinka River. The appearance of the Stockholm Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos occurred…
Not far from Kharkov, in the Transfiguration Kuryazh Monastery, the wonderworking Ozeryana Icon of the Mother of God was kept. According to tradition, the Icon appeared at the end of the XVI century during Tatar raids on Ukraine near the village of Ozeryana - hence the name of the Icon. It is…
The Shuiu-Smolensk Wonderworking Icon of the Mother of God was painted in the years 1654-1655 in the Resurrection parish of the city of Shuiu, where an unrelenting pestilence raged. Trusting in the mercy of God and the intercession of the Mother of God, the parishioners of the Resurrection church…
The “Joyful” (Взыграние) Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos appeared near Moscow on November 7, 1795. Nothing is known of the Icon's history, except that many miracles have taken place before it. For many years, the Icon was one of the symbols of the Saint Nicholas - Ugresh Monastery…
The wonderworking "Quick to Hear" Icon of the Mother of God is kept at Dokheiarίou Monastery on Mount Athos, and is believed to date from the XI century, during the time of Saint Neophytos, the Igoumen of the Monastery. After the wonderworking Portaitissa Icon, the most famous Icon on Mount Athos…
The All-Merciful Kykko Icon of the Mother of God: This icon was painted, according to Tradition, by the holy Evangelist Luke. It received its name “Kykkiotisa” from Mount Kykkos, on the island of Cyprus. Here it was placed in an imperial monastery (so designated because it was built…
The Kupyátitsa (or Kupyátich) Icon of the Mother of God appeared in the year 1180 near the village of Kupyátitsa near the former Pinsk district of the Minsk region. Igoumen Hilarion Denisovich of the Kupyátitsa Monastery wrote a book "A Description of the Miracles of the Kupyátitsa Icon of the…
Saint Lazarus the Iconographer lived in Constantinople. He was a priest, led a strict ascetic life and painted holy icons. He fought against all heresy, enduring many afflictions from the Nestorians, Eutychians, and iconoclasts. Under the iconoclast emperor Theophilus (829-842), he was arrested and…
The exact origin of the “Consolation in Afflictions and Sorrows” Icon of the Mother of God is unknown, but the lettering on the Icon indicates that it is very ancient. There is a tradition that the Icon belonged to the holy Patriarch Athanasios III of Constantinople (May 2). This Icon…
Saint Amphilokhios (Amphilókhios), Bishop of Iconium, was born in Caesarea of Cappadocia (circa 340) a city which produced some of the greatest Fathers and teachers of the Orthodox Church. He was a lawyer in Constantinople, but later he devoted himself entirely to serving the Church. Not only was…
The Machairotissa (Μαχαιριώτισσα) Icon is a wonderworking icon of the Mother of God in the Holy Machaira Monastery on Cyprus. This Icon is historically and spiritually linked to the Monastery, which owes its name to the history of the Icon. This Icon is believed to be one of the 70…
The Icon of the Mother of God “Of the Sign”, depicts the Most Holy Theotokos with prayerfully uplifted hands, and the Divine Infant is at Her bosom in a mandorla (or sphere). This depiction of the Mother of God is regarded as one of the very first of Her iconographic images. In the…
The Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God “Of the Sign” is one of the most ancient icons of the Russian Church. In the thirteenth century during the Tatar invasion, when all the Russian realm was put to the extremest tribulation, the city of Kursk, ravaged by the Horde of Batu, fell into…
The Abalaka Icon of the Mother of God “Of the Sign” was painted by Matthew, a protodeacon of the Tobolsk cathedral, in honor of Sophia (the Wisdom of God), in fulfillment of a vow by a paralytic peasant Euthymius to rebuild the church at the Abalaka monastery of the Mother of God…
The Tsarskoe Selo Sign Icon of the Mother of God an ancient wonderworking icon, was brought by way of a present to Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich by one of the Eastern Patriarchs, supposedly by Saint Athanasius of Constantinople (October 28). Tsar Peter I transferred the icon, together with other sacred…
The Seraphim-Ponetaevka Icon of the Mother of God “of the Sign” was painted in the year 1879 by the nuns of the Seraphim-Ponetaevka women’s monastery, not far from Arzamas, near the village of Ponetaevka. The monastery was named after Saint Seraphim of Sarov by the founder of the…
The Damascene Icon of the Mother of God, by ancient tradition, was painted by Saint John of Damascus in gratitude to the Theotokos for the miraculous healing of his right hand, cut off through the perfidy of Emperor Leo the Isaurian. This icon is also known as “Of the Three Hands” Icon…
The December 2 Feast Day of the Gerontissa Icon of the Mother of God commemorates a miracle which occurred on the night of December 1, 1948 when the Theotokos saved the Pantokrator Monastery on Mount Athos from a fire. Because of this event, the Icon also came to be known as the…
The Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of Seliger comes from the island of Seliger in the Tver Province of Russia.
The “Unexpected Joy” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos is painted in this way: in a room is an icon of the Mother of God, and beneath it a youth is kneeling at prayer. The tradition about the healing of some youth from a bodily affliction through this holy icon is recorded in the book of…
In the village of Lenkov on the bank of the Desno River near Novgorod, Russia, there was a dangerous whirlpool, which made the river difficult to cross. Often, the powerful swirling waters would cause the demise of ships and their passengers. It was at that dangerous site that an Icon of the…
The Novgorod Icon of the Mother of God was painted by Saint Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow (December 21), during his stay as igumen of a monastery on the River Rata at the boundary of the Malyi Dvorets. During a time of persecution, the Uniates plundered the Novgorod monastery, and the icon was…
Within the magnificent Basilica of Christ’s Nativity in Bethlehem, the wonderworking icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, known as Bethlehemitissa, stands out. It is located in a prominent proskynitarion on the right side of the southern entrance of the Holy Cave of the Nativity. The infinite…
There are at least four distinct types of the “Blessed Womb” Icon. The Barlov Icon is a variant of the Hodēgḗtria Icon. It appeared on December 26, 1392, and it is in the Annunciation Cathedral in Moscow. The second example is similar to the “Milk-Giver” Icon (January…
The All-Merciful Kykko Icon of the Mother of God: This icon was painted, according to Tradition, by the holy Evangelist Luke. It received its name “Kykkiotisa” from Mount Kykkos, on the island of Cyprus. Here it was placed in an imperial monastery (so designated because it was built…
The Hodegetria (Hodēgḗtria) Icon of the Mother of God is historically the first icon of the Church, painted by the Holy Evangelist Luke, as we sing in the Megalynarion1 of the Canon of Supplication to the Most Holy Theotokos: "May the lips of all the ungodly who do not venerate your sacred…
The "Foreteller"1 Icon of the Mother of God is located in the katholikon (cathedral church) of Konstamonitou Monastery on Mount Athos, and it became famous in the following way. On August 1, 1020, the eve of the monastery’s Feast Day (The Transfer of the Relics of the Protomartyr Stephen from…
The Icon was painted in 1991 for the local row of the iconostasis in the church of the Nativity of the Mother of God, which is being renovated after 30 years of desolation (since 1961 it had served as a repository for fertilizer). The first miracle — the flow of tears — was manifested by the…
This wonderworking Icon is at Zographou Monastery on Mount Athos. The name of the Hearer Icon of the Mother of God (Παναγία Επακούουσα, or Услы́шательница in Russian) is explained by the following miraculous sign. The venerable Cosmas was living a life of asceticism…
The Holy Gerontissa Icon of the Mother of God is kept reverently in Pantokrator Monastery on the Holy Mountain. It is a copy of the mosaic "Quick to Hear" Icon, which was located in Pantokrator Monastery in Constantinople. The name "Gerontissa" was given after a miracle of the Theotokos. When the…
This Icon is in the Protection Cathedral at Voronezh. The Theotokos is shown holding her Divine Child on her left arm, with a blossoming branch in her right hand. The Fragrant Flower Icon resembles the Unfading Flower Icon (April 3). In the older Unfading Flower Icons, the Child is held on the…
There is an ancient and deeply revered Assuage my Sorrows Icon of the Mother of God in St. Petersburg, in the church of the Lord's Ascension, on Voznesensky Prospect, near the Ekaterinensky Canal. This Holy Icon was brought from Moscow on September 25,1765 by the merchant Rogovikov (a participant…
Saint Ananias was born in Russia and was tonsured in the monastery of Saint Antony the Roman at Novgorod. God endowed him with a gift for painting icons, and he exercised this talent for the glory of the Lord. The Venerable Ananias painted "marvelous icons of many holy wonderworkers." For…
This Icon is kept in the Moldavian Theophany (now Prodromou)1 Skete on Mount Athos, about an hour's walk from the Lavra of St. Athanasios. In 1863, Igoumen Niphon, accompanied by several monks, went to Moldavia on the Monastery's business. Arriving at Iași, the capital of Moldavia, the Athonite…
At the beginning of the XIX century the remarkable ascetic Constantine Theodoulos was living as a monk on Mount Athos. This Elder had a wonderworking Icon of the Theotokos, which had been painted about 150 years before. After this ascetic's repose, the Icon was passed on to Constantine's disciple,…
The Most Holy Theotokos first appeared to Igoumen Evangelos, who was the Superior of the Monastery from 1864-1872. The late XIX century researcher I. Vinogradov dates the Icon's presence in the Monastery to that period. If he was correct in thinking that the Icon was painted during that time, then…
The Founder's Icon of the Mother of God (Greek: Κτιτόρισσα) is also called Altarnitsa (Altárnitsa) or Bematarissa (Bēmatárissa). There are also other icons known by the name of Altarnitsa or Bematarissa (Commemorated on January 21, and Tuesday of Bright Week at Vatopedi Monastery).…
This variant of the Spanish Icon (April 8) appeared in Serbia at the end of the VII century. In the XVI century, it was moved to the city of Abul in Spain (hence its name Abul), where it is located today. Tradition has it that in 1870, a blind maiden was healed before this wonderworking Icon in the…